Military Life

What is Stephen Chapman's point in his Jan. 9 column? After he tells us "of the USS Acadia, which returned from the gulf war with 10 percent of its female sailors pregnant," he claims, "Sex between sailors undermines order, discipline and morale." What? Did USS Acadia ratings deteriorate? Tell us about them if they did. If, as Mr. Chapman says, illicit heterosexual relations are a problem, what is it? Surely Mr. Chapman is not surprised that sexually mature people engage in intercourse.

South Korean special forces joined a manhunt on Sunday for a soldier who killed five comrades in a grenade and gun attack at a base near the North Korean border, and once dawn broke military helicopters began scouring the forested hillsides. The soldier shot dead five of his fellow unit members and wounded seven others late on Saturday at a outpost in the base at Goseong county, a mountainous region that borders the North on the eastern coast of the peninsula. ...

Of late, designers have opted for the slow burn, content to let trends simmer for a few seasons before jolting fashion fans with a brand new dish. So you won't find anything shocking coming out of New York in another six months. Indeed, most of the styles served on the runways are mere evolutions of seasons past. A caveat: The hemline issue is an issue again . Come fall, skirts will stretch, with lengths ranging from kissing the kneecaps to hugging the calves. Indeed, from hemlines to necklines, fall...

Martin Dempsey, the Army general who's now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was a division commander when he got to Baghdad in 2003 and climbed into a Humvee for his first trip off base. "I asked the driver ... who he was (and) where he was from," the general remembers, "and I slapped the turret gunner around the leg and I said, 'Who are you?' And she leaned down and said, 'I'm Amanda.' "And I said, 'Ah, OK.' So female turret gunner protecting division commander." One of the things that...

Your recent, varied articles and editorials regarding co-ed training of Navy and military personnel was really good reporting. The Tribune rightfully does not take a stand on the subject. The United States Marines train their male and female recruits separately. The corps recognizes that boot camp is designed to offer a slow transition from civilian life to military life. By removing the all-too-often adolescent trauma of forcing young people into "unusual" collective roles, it gives the recruits the...

A year ago, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden announced Joining Forces, a program to create and secure private-sector jobs for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. At the time, the first lady said it was time to "build upon our nation's great patriotism by asking all Americans to take action and ensure our military families have the support they have earned." A year later, the need for action remains. It's why, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Joining Forces,...

Gloria J. Shoener, 59, a volunteer who ran a local food bank and who helped wives of officers to adjust to military life, died Monday, July 1, in her Aurora home of ovarian cancer. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Mrs. Shoener attended a university for two years. She left school for an administrative assistant position with the Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. She met her husband, George, then a cadet at West Point, at a dance. Three days after George Shoener graduated from West Point...

By Mary Harris Russell and Special to Tribune Newspapers | November 24, 2010

"Forge" By Laurie Halse Anderson Atheneum, $16.99, ages 10-14 In her earlier prize-winning book "Chains," Laurie Halse Anderson viewed the early days of the American Revolution through the eyes of Isabel, an enslaved person brought from Rhode Island to Manhattan. "Forge" begins where that story ended. Isabel is now branded on her cheek for insubordination, half-frozen and exhausted, having engineered the escape of herself and Curzon, a young man promised his freedom for spying on the...

As the battle rages for ownership of Ft. Sheridan and its choice lakefront land. The buildings and grounds of the once-great and now decommisioned military installation remain as yet untouched, a reminder of its former grandeur. In "The Architectural History of Ft. Sheridan," issued by the Ft. Sheridan Joint Planning Committee, there is a capsule history of the fort's architectural and landscape features. A passage in the history describes the Ft. Sheridan Historic District, a section of...

Dear Amy: I am a 16-year-old male in high school. When I am old enough, I want to join the Marine Corps. My parents want me to go to college. I also want to go to college, but after I serve my country. I am fairly active, and I am afraid that I will lose some or all of my physical ability in college. Should I follow my gut and join the Marines, or trust my parents' years of wisdom and experience? -- Future Marine Dear Future Marine: If you are worried that college will...

What is Stephen Chapman so afraid of? His Jan. 9 column ("The military's ban on gays: Is it time for a change?") appears to accept without question the likelihood that gays and lesbians capably and quietly serve in the military. Yet he maintains that to legally acknowledge the obvious would represent an "unreasonable sacrifice" for heterosexuals. Like most persons, he does not want to admit that gays and lesbians can and do serve in the military alongside everybody else. Gays and lesbians will not be content...

Some children want to be police officers or firefighters when they grow up, but Spec. Joshua Harris always wanted to be a soldier. Harris, 21, of Oak Park, a member of the Illinois National Guard, died Wednesday in Afghanistan, according to family and a military official. He was killed by a roadside bomb while serving alongside Sgt. Jason Vazquez, 24, of Chicago, who also died this week, the National Guard reported. "He died in the line of duty doing what he chose to do,"...

By Mary Harris Russell and Special to Tribune Newspapers | November 24, 2010

"Forge" By Laurie Halse Anderson Atheneum, $16.99, ages 10-14 In her earlier prize-winning book "Chains," Laurie Halse Anderson viewed the early days of the American Revolution through the eyes of Isabel, an enslaved person brought from Rhode Island to Manhattan. "Forge" begins where that story ended. Isabel is now branded on her cheek for insubordination, half-frozen and exhausted, having engineered the escape of herself and Curzon, a young man promised his freedom for spying on the...

There's a reason that Dennis Haysbert (left) is often cast in roles of authority. In person, the man exudes it without saying a word. It's not just his height (he's well over 6 feet tall). It's the air of quiet charisma that the actor possesses, which has served him well as the resilient military leader Jonas Blane on "The Unit," as President David Palmer on "24" and as a spokesman for Allstate. It's easy to see why he was cast as Nelson Mandela in the upcoming film "Goodbye Bafana."

A year ago, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden announced Joining Forces, a program to create and secure private-sector jobs for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. At the time, the first lady said it was time to "build upon our nation's great patriotism by asking all Americans to take action and ensure our military families have the support they have earned." A year later, the need for action remains. It's why, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Joining Forces,...

I couldn't help but wonder if my husband married a jerk. U.S. Army chaplains are carrying out a training program called "How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk." The program is in response to the fact that more than 56,000 Army couples have divorced since the Afghanistan war in 2001, and the fact that many lovesick, pressured soldiers marry perhaps too quickly before or after deployment. Chaplains and other military personnel use the program to counsel unmarried soldiers in selecting a spouse...

"The good sense of the people," Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "is the strongest army our government can ever have." The Sage of Monticello thought long and hard about the proper relationship between a democracy and its armed forces. King George's mercenaries left the colonials with a bad taste for hired guns and a strong preference for citizen-soldiers raised up from the communities they were to defend. Jefferson was particularly concerned that the young nation's officer corps would evolve into...

By Shia Kapos and Jennifer Taylor, Special to the Tribune | February 13, 2005

Second Lt. Andre Tyson was a young teen when he decided he wanted to leave the bustle of Los Angeles and stay with his grandparents in central California, where he was sure to finish high school. It was a big decision, said his grandfather, Nelson Kindles of Santa Maria, Calif., and "it was a smart one." Tyson went on to make lifelong friends in the community, bordered by rolling hills on three sides and the Pacific Ocean to the west. "He wanted to go in a different...